396 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. xii. 



she is very much obliged to you ; " and so waked 

 up by Albert the page from my after-dinner nap. 

 The thanks from our neighbours being for three 

 out of half a score jack, caught in the great pond 

 this morning by Mr. Gould and me. . . . We 

 had two capital chess battles last night — each 

 winning one [Hon. Adolphus Liddell] 4 — and his 

 beautiful wife playing the most charming airs from 

 good old " Don Giovanni." The breach being quite 

 practicable between the two gardens, three minutes' 

 walk in the bright moonlight clears the distance.' 



Owen's enthusiasm for the ' Cottage ' and its 

 beautiful surroundings knew no bounds. In a 

 letter to his sister Catherine (January 3, 1853), he 

 refers to a ' grand battue ' which took place in the 

 park on that day, and says : ' His Royal Highness 

 [the Duke of Cambridge] ordered a couple of 

 hares to be left for us at the close of the day, so 

 what with these and the good Duchess's venison 

 and the carp, I begin to find the advantage of 

 living in a " preserve." I don't know that I ever 

 enjoyed the snug place more than now ; but the 

 season has been so extraordinary that it is like a 

 prolonged mild spring, and we have occasionally 

 splendid sunsets. The walks are very enjoyable, 

 wet or fine, the exercise being always good.' 



On March 1, 1853, he sends an account of the 

 first ' Club ' dinner that season : ' Hallam was in 



4 The garden of whose house of Sheen Lodge by a breach in 

 could be entered from the garden the hedge. 



